Abstract
With the amendment of the Consumer Basic Act in 2004, the right to consumer education was established in Japan. The significance of consumer education in home economics education, under the new course of study, has further increased. The architecture of consumer education stages, proposed in 2007 by the Quality-of-Life Policy Bureau of the Cabinet Office, proposed subjects that Japanese consumers should learn about in their lifetime, spanning from childhood to old age. This study compares these subjects so as to gain perspectives on consumer education for future home economics education. The results suggest that many subjects such as safety, agreement and trading, as well as information and environment in home economics overlap with those in the architecture of consumer education stages. However, the subject of information is omitted in the new course of study. High school education, in particular, stresses fostering students' perspectives for self-support, lifelong financial planning, and the capability of financial planning and consumption in daily life. This study clearly indicates that the contents of consumer education are closely related to these subjects and need to be further emphasized.
